A Different Man
by Aquaticmammals
Summary: This is a remake of the original, which has been deleted. It was really bad, this one is less so. The Turians Could not even begin to comprehend just exactly what kind of species they just went to war with. How could a species so loosely connected come together so strong? More importantly, how do they have FTL without mass relays? AU Shadow rewrites in progress.
1. The Beginning

**AN: A while ago I made a story by the same name. I deleted it because it sucked, here is a better story. More of a pet project.**

* * *

"For all passengers to Shanxi colony number "two-oh-four" please report to gate "A-114", thank you." The loudspeaker blared out over the cacophonous noise that was the mass driver terminal. People rushing all about in order to get back planetside. Some of them miners on leave from mining the moon they currently resided on. Others engineers required to keep the buildings habitable, some even accountants working for the Khurstag Mining Corporation, but most of them were using the moon terminal to get to Shanxi from another one of the system's planets. One such was a woman by the name of Sheila Strasser, a scientist from out of system. Sheila came to Shanxi in order to investigate an alien artifact in space near Shanxi. She came all the way from the Khurstag system in order to study the item. She was to meet up with an research team planetside, and she was on her way.

Sheila is running through the terminal in order to get to her gate in time. She HAS to make it to the gate in time, the team will not wait for her. Ticket in hand, and her luggage being dragged behind her, she can see the gate now, the clerk seems to see her running and waits for her.

"My ticket." Sheila barks this out, panting, out of fatigue from running all this way. The clerk simply nods and takes her ticket, then points her to the door. Walking on through the door onto the ramp, Sheila sighs she had made it, sweat pouring down her forehead. The ramp leads her on the shuttle, she can't see the outside of it, due to the ramp encompassing all but the door. Looking around she sees only one open seat, and with the shuttle about to launch, sits in it, buckling the straps. The man next to her looks at her, eying her up, before he finally speaks.

"So what is your business down on the dump we call Shanxi." The man, obviously a miner askes her.

"The alien object, near the planet." The man nods, and was about to speak, until the warning klaxons went off. The shuttle was about to launch, and all became quiet. First the humming of the mass shifter started, using an exotic element scientist call element zero, to alter the mass of the shuttle, making it easier to accelerate and decelerate. With the mass of the shuttle decreased, the mass driver begins its work. Launching the shuttle electromagnetically towards shanxi, travel time 46 minutes.

All throughout the trip Sheila wonders what will be found, but more importantly, what would aliens think of humanity? How much more advanced would they be? Would they think of the Systems Alliance as an outdated political system? Well the alliance is kind of confusing to understand anyway. A group of human controlled systems all with different laws, beliefs, technology levels, culture, and politics loosely held under one banner. The alliance doesn't even stop the systems from warring with one another as far as she remembers the Carrarshie System is at war with the Vorax System over some cultural belief. No, Sheila mentally slaps herself. She can't take her time worrying, and the artifact hasn't done anything yet, maybe the creators aren't there? Sheila couldn't get the thought out of her mind the whole time she was on the shuttle.

Sheila was brought out of her thought when the landing klaxons blare, and the shuttle is grabbed by the ground based magnets. Through the help of the magnets, and the reduction in mass from the mass shifter made it all possible. Even though the shuttle was windowless, people could guess what was happening, mainly in part the screech of metal on metal, it was obvious they were coming down in a launch tube. The screeching only stopped when the brakes in the tube stopped the shuttle. Not long after the passengers were to depart from the shuttle, and head down into the terminal. Sheila being among the first off had no problem getting through the terminal to the streets of the colony, her goal to get to the research center. Once there she would meet up with the research crew.

Standing in front of the address given to Sheila, she walks up to the door and presses the button on the buzzer. "Yeah who is this?" A monotone voice, one would expect a pious man to hold responds from the speaker. She presses on the button on the speaker and responds.

"This is Sheila, here to join the research team for the alien artifact." she releases the button allowing the voice on the other side to respond.

"Ah yes, we have been expecting you Ms. Strasser. I'll be there in a second." With that being the last words she heard spoken from the intercom, she has to wait. She does not wait for long the clackering of long outdated locks is heard, and the door swings open. A figure in a khaki robe greets her view. "Greetings I am Cicero, of House Cognitionis, from the Alpha Centauri system. May the Creator's blessing be with us." finally looking at her to reveal his face, he smiled. She couldn't help but stare at his face. His left eye has been replaced by a robotic one, with a red glow. The data jack of the side of his head. "Is there something wrong Ms. Strasser?" His words snapping her out of her trance.

"Ah yes Cicero, I'm alright." Her eye being drawn to his robotic arm, painted in the same khaki as his robe.

"Alright then Ms. Strasser, please come in." Stepping back, and allowing her to enter. Upon her entrance into the research center, she realized how small it was. It was only one room and a bathroom. "Dr. Johnson, the lady from Khurstag university is here."

"Thank you Cicero, Ms. Strasser is it?" An old lady, in her early sixties stood up from her seat at the computer.

"Yes, I came here as soon as I got your email." The doctor looks pleased, obviously a determined candidate, and that was just what she was looking for. Nodding in approval she immediately begins to tell her that they depart tomorrow. They have a ship and everything, a crew to investigate the object, and most importantly a ship, albeit with an old fashioned cherenkov drive instead of a warp drive, but still ftl capabilities nonetheless. And she lie on a futon in the room, she dreamed. She dreamed that they discovered just who it was that made the ruins found on Mars a century ago. And just what the ruins they found were.

* * *

"Everyone buckled in?" Cicero asked everyone, upon seeing Sheila and the Doctor give him a thumbs up he began the takeoff process. Signalling to the traffic controller, and the ship they are heading too that they are ready. The shuttle jolts to life, Sheila bucking in her seat as the shuttle begins to head to orbit. "With the plasma thrusters of House Cognition we shall be to the ship in less than three minutes." Cicero spoke the truth, the thrusters of his home bringing them into orbit quickly and smoothly, comparatively to other thrusters.

Landing in the shuttle hanger of the ship and crew they payed for, the captain welcomed them and told them that they hoped to do further business if it ends up going further. Heading up to the bridge of the ship and observing the empty void that was known space. "Funny, my people do not use exposed bridges." Cicero had to comment on the difference between his home and this one.

"This is not a military ship, this ship was not made for combat. It is merely a modified hauler." Dr. Johnson commented, Cicero only listened patiently taking everything she said into memory. It wasn't much time until they began to head out to the object. After everyone was buckled up, they initiated the cherenkov drive. What would usually take three hours now will only take thirty seconds, and then they have arrived.

* * *

It has been three days into the trek, and multiple EVAs worth of poking and prodding to try to figure out the objects purpose. To be honest, it looked kind of like a gun to Sheila. "So Doc, what exactly do we know about the object." Sheila askes.

"It was discovered when the colony was set up, and now three Alliance standard years later, we got the funding to figure out what it exactly is. Before she could say anymore a crewmember of the ship bursts into the room.

"Doctor Johnson! The object! It appeared to have turned on. One of the men on EVA was doing something, and it just turned on!"

"Quickly Sheila!" With no time to waste, they ran to the bridge, and what met their eyes was astonishing. The object was active, rings spinning, and a bluish glow coming off of it. "Out of my way, let me see those readings!" Pushing the crewman out of the way she read the ships albeit primitive, sensors. "A type of radiation is coming off the object this is-" A blip came up on the radar, then another. Before they knew it, at least a fleets worth of ships were in the system. "Send a message, this may just be first contact." Before anyone could carry out the Doctor's order, and solid slug slammed into the ship, causing a cataclysmic explosion due to damage caused to the cherenkov drive. There were no survivors.

* * *

"Sir, we have S.O.S signals coming in from Shanxi colony, not only that we also have messages sent in."

"Well what do they say?" The radio operator only pointe to the screen he had, and the commander read the message. It was all corrupted, except for a few words, such as, invasion, first contact, alien, starvation. "By God. You, alert the president, tell him that our colony of Shanxi has been besieged by a supposed alien threat." The radio operator he pointed to immediately got to it. "Men as of September 15th, 2157, we are at war. And let it be known, that the Union of Khurstag shall fight to teeth and claw, or my name is not David Anderson!"

* * *

 **AN: This is just a proof of concept to see if anyone would want to see this continue. It's going to be more of a thriller instead of a hard core acction, but if you are from The Reich and the Empire, the action will be there as well. If you want to see a continue follow and review, let me know your thoughts.**


	2. The First Contact War

**AN: New chapter of this story, leave a review and tell me what you think.**

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"Prepare ship for warp jump." The frigate began to spool up its warp drive upon captain Anderson's request, ready to travel with the rest of the fleet at command. It had been three Terran standard days since the distress signal came in, and now it was time to go on the offensive against this new threat. The fleet from Vorax, and Alpha Centauri were already in transit, and the Khurstag fleet had to wait or else they might arrive to early. Due to the planet being an up and coming colony, and until the threat had been determined, complete orbital bombardment has been postponed, but is still not out of the question. The fleet was a fairly large one, not big enough to take a system, but large enough to hold a planet. The tension in the room felt thick, everyone was like this before combat, but this wasn't a small proxy war against Alpha Centauri, nor was this a colony that thought it was bigger than it really was, this was a completely unknown threat. The tension only raised when they got the message in from the Fleet Admiral, he wanted the ship to engage warp drives, and to enter orbit around the planets most northern pole, hoping that the magnetic disturbance would give them the benefit of surprise.

* * *

General Desolas Arterius looked at the amount of serving men they started the campaign with, then he looks at how many have been wounded, then back to the number. One hundred and thirty five men injured, thirteen dead. A number unheard of when dealing with any species capable of spaceflight. The fleet defending the planet in orbit had no kinetic barriers, and were incapable of piercing theirs in any worthwhile amount of time. Even when they put troops on the ground they still had no kinetic barriers, in fact the natives fought back with automatic powder based weaponry. Taking the planet had been the easiest military campaign he had ever undertook. The moon was another story. The species has people on the moon, a whole colony in fact, but landing troops to take it would be a nightmare. Low gravity, no atmosphere, and all the fighting centers would be cramped rooms and corridors, not ideal circumstances for an invading army.

Entering his quarters from the door came in a Turian female, a doctor as noted by her uniform. "General, we have conducted some interrogations, we are still working on cracking their computers, it's like they have never even seen Prothean computer architecture."

"Ah good. What did you learn from the interrogations?" The Doctor places a datapad in front of the General.

"Everything we have learned is on those, sir." Picking up a datapad and flipping through.

"Thank you Doctor, you are excused." With a nod, she leaves his chamber, closing the door behind her. Humans, they call themselves humans. The planet they are attacking is a colony planet under the jurisdiction of the System of Khurstag. It's funny how they didn't have their species name in the name of their governing body, it's almost as if they have more species than human. No eezo on any of their weapons, or ships detected. How they even leave the system they started in without eezo, or Prothean technology makes him wonder, just how do they do it.

He was pulled out of thought when his intercom went off, quickly pressing the button to answer it. "General! We have over one hundred new contacts in orbit over the planet!" The General quickly pressing another button on his intercom.

"Send a runner back through the mass relay, tell them we need reinforcements." His demeanor remaining calm the whole way through. Knowing full well any shuttles sent down to try to retrieve him would be shot down, and the thirty two ships in orbit would not hold back this fleet, he could only hope to outlast until help arrived.

* * *

"This is Fleet Admiral Stravinsky of the Khurstag 11th combat fleet. Alpha Centauri, Vorax fleet are you there." Broadcasting his message on all human channels, in hopes that they had all arrived on time. Transit for the Khurstag fleet wasn't too long, but the Voraxian fleet had been in transit for the past standard Terran days, and the Alpha Centauri fleet for only one.

The radio started to receive an incoming transmission. "Admiral Stravinsky, this is Priestess Aurelia of house Animo, acting as representative of Alpha Centauri's fleet." The announcement put Stravinsky at ease, knowing that at least Alpha Centauri had not blown them off. His worries were quenched altogether after the radio came on again.

"Fleets of Khurstag, Alpha Centauri, this is Supreme Patriarch Rhombus of the Vorax system, bringing with me the seventy-seventh combat fleet." The Supreme Patriarch of Vorax?

"Supreme Patriarch, this is Admiral Stravinsky speaking, might I ask why you are here? This is going to be an active battlefield afterall." Speaking out into the radio.

"What kind of governmental leader would I be if I did not lead my men on the field of battle against this alien scum?" Alien scum? That was the same phrase they used to demonize the Carrarshians, not that many people would disagree if you saw one of them though. "We are still currently in the process of collecting our men's sperm to send home incase of death on the line of duty. Don't let us not being ready stop you, we shall be ready in two standard Terran hours. Long live Vorax!" Shouting his final phrase the Supreme Patriarch went quiet. Stravinsky could not say he wasn't slightly disturbed by his words, but he couldn't wait two hours for a bunch of men to ejaculate into a tube.

"Admiral, we are waiting for your signal to deploy troops to the ground. This is a colony of Khurstag after all." The Priestess was waiting on him to deploy her forces. Noting that the enemy contact on the radar were coming together into a single blob, and probably calling for reinforcement, he decides that they should deploy sooner rather than later. Can't deploy troops if their transports get shot down can you?

"Priestess, we give you permission to deploy troops and wipe out the enemy forces." The moment he finished saying that phrase dropships could be seen pouring out of the ships of the two great houses present. "To all Khurstag ships, I, the Admiral order troops to be deployed to the surface." Seeing the dropships, and atmospheric aircrafts being deployed planetside, the Admiral knows that their time to fight is coming, but his was now. Although fewer in number, the enemy ships were approaching, and they needed to be dealt with.

"Admiral a cruiser has been hit. Its primary power system is out, considered dead in the water." The battle has begun, and apparently the enemy had a range advantage, and their weapons were able to pass through a cruisers armour like it was paper.

"Right then, full speed ahead, target the largest ship with a mass penetrator round. See how they react to a ship going down in one shot." Ordering the use of a mass penetrator was looked down upon in most situations, but here a serious display of power might help break enemy morale. If their morale shatters, they might surrender, and that means less Khurstag lives lost. Less Khurstag lives lost means less reimbursement checks the government needs to pay the relatives in the fallen, it also means less money spent on military hardware. Nodding to himself slowly as he goes over the type of strategic thinking he was taught. "Fire now." The mass penetrator being the most expensive round ever produced for the Khurstag Navy. The reason for this was the brand new mass shifting device in the core of the round. The mass shifter is encased in depleted uranium, with a magnetic film on the outside so it would function it the railgun. When being accelerated its mass would be reduced, allowing it to be accelerated faster than any other round utilized by Khurstag. The exact velocity is 1.1% the speed of light. Immediately after leaving the barrel the mass shifter goes into reverse, increasing the mass of the slug. Taking a 43 kg depleted uranium slug to that with the mass equal to two metric tons of tungsten after three seconds. Theoretically if powered, and allowed to gain enough distance it could be used to crack a planet it half. Though the distance, time, and effort required to do so would be astronomical, pun intended. In the time required for the slug to reach the Turian ship the mass was equal to that of seventeen metric tons of tungsten. The sheer mass of the slug barreled its way through their kinetic barrier, before hitting the hull and exploding, raining pyrophoric fragments into the ship. Destroying it, instantaneously. Getting the report in from the radar operator that the enemy vessel was obliterated, and that his crew did not miss with the ten-thousand dollar slug made him feel good.

"Sir, the rest of the ships are firing at us at a rapid rate." The radio operator reported to Admiral Stravinsky of the damages to the fleet.

"Order all ships to fire."The radio operator nodded relaying the Admirals orders. Every Khurstag ship fired its weapons, from the battleships railguns, to the frigates atomic torpedoes. The other systems ships were firing back as well. Missiles, depleted uranium slugs, amerexite shards, and orange glowing rods of tungsten were being shot towards the alien vessels. None of them would make it out of the sheer torrent of death

* * *

The shuttle had just entered the lower stages of the atmosphere, the plasma sheath dispersing around the outer hull. It was only then that the sounds of triple A became noticeable inside the tightly packed shuttle bay. The men inside could only hope that the dummy shuttles were targeted instead of their own. At least then thirty-two men wouldn't have to die if the anti-air artillery hit its target. Once the shuttle hits the ground, it would be in the clear until they went on the assault. The shuttle suddenly jolts once, everyone bumping into each other. Then it jolts again, and the shuttle door opens up.

They walk outside of the craft, gauss carbines at the ready. That is until they notice the infrastructure already setup. Relaxing and walking into the camp to wait until the armour arrives. After the soldiers step out of the danger zone around the craft, it takes off. The walk to the camp took only a minute, and on the way in they pass a chicken wire fence. On the other side of the fence are rows of robots. On their shoulder was the insignia of house Cognitionis, and the right arm of the bot had a amerexite shard gun, with a belt leading the a metal box on the robots back. Each robot was being looked over individually by their drone controller. He looked over each bot, ensuring that the connection to him was stable and reliable, checking the status of each bot through the computer jutting out of his head. A cable ran from said computer directly to the back of his head, hard wiring it into his brain to give him the computing power needed to process the data commanding an army of robots requires.

Walking up to the crew lounge, the group of drop troopers go their own way. One trooper, Davian Clarke, walks up to a woman with a shaved head, and tattoos lining her face. "Hey, I can guess you're from Alpha Centauri." All of the soldiers in the room stop what they're doing, waiting for the man to get torn inside out.

"Yeah I'm from Alpha Centauri, what of it?" The only noise being her husky voice in the room. The room deathly quiet, as every person in the room stops what they doing to observe.

"I was curious about your tattoos." The woman only grinned, as she did this everyone in the room recoiled, waiting for this man's death.

She laughs, she laughs hard. "You're the first person to talk to me since landing, you've got balls kid. And as for the tattoos, they classify me as a witch. That way everyone knows I'm capable of lighting a fire with a simple thought. I'm psychic kid." Davian nods in understanding, not noticing the room all tension in the room deplete, and everyone go back to what they were doing. That was until the siren went off, signalling that they to start lining up.

Out in the field outside their camp, many other camps can be seen all with their own battalion in front. Lieutenant Colonel Alvarez stands to greet the battalion. "Our mission, is to reclaim the city of this planet. On our way we will have to pass through some fields, bare and with few hills." It wasn't too long after that they had were instructed to march. It was four miles until the city. A man standing not to far from Davian exploded into a haze, a trail of blue tracing back to a slight shimmer on the top of a hill. "Sniper!" With no discernable cover around, all the soldiers could do was run. The tanks fired towards the glint with their machine guns, hoping to suppress the sniper from firing again. Another shot rang out, turning another poor infantry man to a red haze. More machine gun fire from the light machine gun crews began to fire towards the glint as well. Even the snipers from the battalion began to return fire, no one could claim they hit the guy though. For the glint vanished and the shots stopped, whether he was dead or retreating were unknown to them all, but they could not worry about that now, for they had to march on.

* * *

"General, the humans have destroyed our current fleet in orbit. They are in the process of marching towards the city. From what our scouts can report they don't appear to possess kinetic barriers." General Arterius grinned, this was an advantage they would have to abuse.

"We will have to strike them while they are not ready. They were in a march you said?" The turian nodded. "Very archaic tactic, those haven't been used since the days of large scale industrial warfare. The downside is that they aren't very fast." Pointing to the map on the table in front of him General Arterius lays out his plan. "The city sits on this hill here, surrounded by four other hills to the north, south, east, and west. We shall sent up encampments on these hills and prevent them from passing. As we remember from the military academy, one of the biggest weaknesses of this form of combat, is that it can really be bogged down by trenches, tell the men they have forty minutes to get it done." The turian nodded and bowed before leaving to relay the General's orders.

* * *

The enemy sent up an encampment on top of a hill, anyone who tried to charge got torn to shreds. The bodies of the robotic drones used en masse by the Alpha Centauri forces got ripped to shreds, lacking the shield of the human Alpha Centauri troops. It made the troops of Khurstag wish they had shields too. All they got was cheap kevlar and plastic armor. Even then it didn't protect them from the alien weapons, their shots pass straight through it. Another Khurstag Rockefeller tank gets destroyed, taking only one shot to the turret for the high explosive ammunition to cook off. The troops all sitting right before the crest of the hill, the large size of the hill making good cover. The problem was crossing through the small plains in between the hill, a de facto no man's land.

Due to the aliens encampment being so close to the city, an orbital strike was out of the option. Luckily for the human forces Khurstag learned since the first Voraxian war. With stationary artillery guns being easy prey for Vorax troops dropped in from orbit, they had to improvise. The Rockefeller tank is capable of angling its gun at seventy degrees, and firing ordinance like a howitzer. Making it armoured, mobile, and capable of defending itself from assault. A line of the tanks sat at the base of the hill, their guns pointing above the hill. The gunners inside of the tanks load a shell, and then select the muzzle velocity of the shell. When ready they fire, and the thunderous boom of their main guns complemented only seconds later by the sound of explosions from the shells hitting their target, the alien encampment. Usually this would be followed up with an infantry charge, but they had done that already to little success. When they charged the aliens didn't keep their heads down, they had shields to protect them from the Khurstag slugs, and their weren't enough Alpha Centauri troops to go around for amerexite guns.

Multiple streaks came down from the sky, covered in a plasma sheath. Upon exiting the sheath of plasma, they were revealed to be drop pods, and they were aimed for no man's land. Any of the older troops, mostly commanders knew that this was a Voraxian combat drop, and each of those drop pods held ten Voraxians, power suit and all. The first pod slammed into the ground, the doors to the pod opened, and the first person to step out was a commander, obvious by the cape he wore to complement his suit, which was exactly seven feet in height. In his right hand being held by its pistol grip was a boxy gun, a nailer as most Khurstag troops know it by, It fire a fifty caliber long tungsten rod, heated to glowing orange and then fired at the enemy using self oxidized propellant. For however archaic it was you could not argue it was not effective, for it would cauterize any wounds it causes making future medical treatments harder for said injury. Not wasting a second to identify a threat he point towards the enemy hill, and charges. The rest of the men follow suit. Within the course of thirty seconds over a thousand men were deployed in this manner, which is what made Vorax the militaristic powerhouse it was. The power suits charged up the hill, shrugging off all small arm fire, although the alien small arms dented the suits much more than Khurstag, or Alpha Centauri weapons. Even when a suit got hit by a heavier weapon, or lost a limb, a troop would come by, remove whatever was left of the damaged limb attached to the body, and put on a temporary one so the soldier could get back to fighting.

* * *

Supreme Patriarch Rhombus' power suit towered over the ranks of his men as he charged, his power suit being nine feet tall, and with a small amount of golden trim, with his command squads suits being only eight feet tall. What separated the command squad, and the Patriarchs suit from the average power suit was the use of depleted uranium in the armor. His suit dinging from all of the enemy bullets bouncing off, him being the target of their fire, being the closest the top, and the biggest target. He only got knocked back slightly when a tank cannon hits him in the chest. It did not penetrate. The depleted uranium armor in his suit being the only thing saving him from the shot. With the Patriarch being the first over the hill he jump right into the small trench the aliens have dug. Stomping the head of the alien that was unlucky enough to be below him. Raising his gun to the alien in front of him, who was panicking, he shot him at point blank. The shot was too close to trigger his shield, and the aliens head exploded. Putting his left hand on the front of the gun to hold it like any normal man should, he aims at the guy at the edge of the trench. Sitting in the corner shooting his gun into the Patriarchs armor. The Patriarch shot him, the first rod triggering his barrier, the second breaking it, the third going into the aliens eye, bolting his head to the dirt. The heat from the glowing rod caused the other eye to bubble, and explode from the proximity to the heat.

The whole process took less that five seconds. The whole alien encampment was currently being overrun by Voraxian power suits. Now it was time for the Patriarch to do what he was best at, being a General. He deployed to the east because the west, north, and south had minimal resistance. No Voraxian would deploy into an area without a fight, and still be able to call themself Supreme Patriarch of Vorax.

* * *

"General, the human armies have broken through the eastern, western, and northern trench lines. The south has managed to hold though, but not for much longer." General Arterius looked around the chamber he claimed as his own. Holding this human police station would be easy enough, it was well defendable. The problem was that he had no backup, and his armies were being crushed. The humans may be fighting in a outdated manner, but their weaponry was well suited to their manner of warfare. The reports of what he had gotten were pretty surprising, but then again they probably would have been developed and used by the Turians if they didn't have element zero. Tanks that can act as artillery guns, waves of AI drones that never stop charging, guns that fire yellow shards that ignore kinetic barriers, and now giant power armored soldiers wielding guns that a medic described to him as, "The worst spirit damned wounds I've ever looked at, I can't do a thing for these people." The only good news they had was that they had managed to use the humans anti air defenses to successfully deal with their fighter craft, and gunships. It was only a matter of time until the humans would be knocking on his doorstep, and he had an obligation to his men. Dying in a blaze of glory always got you respect in the Hierarchy, but there was no respect to made in throwing men into a meat grinder.

"Ask the Doctor if she has managed to make a translation matrix for the human language." Knowing that this battle would only end in the death of all of his men, and that no glory were to be won if they fought he decided this was the only option.

"Right away general, I will go get her for you." The turian soldier rushed out of the room leaving General Arterius all alone. He would go down in the history books as the general who showed weakness in the face of danger, but all of his men would know better. They would remember him as the general that prevented unnecessary death in the face of adversity. Still though, what the hell kind of species would send over a hundred ships to defend a colony.

* * *

"How did we suffer the most casualties?" Admiral Stravinsky was yelling at his second in command about the battle for orbital dominance. Although they outnumbered the enemy, they still inflicted a lot of damage. "We sent twenty-three ships, Alpha Centauri sent thirteen ships, Vorax sent seventy-seven ships. How is it that we lost the most ships, and Vorax lost the least?!"

"Sir, we would not have been able to counter attack so quick if not for the support of the Voraxians." Stravinsky's second in command tried to calm the man down, but he couldn't come up with a reason why. Vorax should have lost the most ships, making up the bulk of the fleet and all. Not only that, but the Vorax ships were at much closer range to the enemy, due to using powder based weapons, and ramming.

A voice belonging to the radio operator spoke up. "Admiral, we are getting a radio signal, the signal appears to be originating from the planets police station."

"Right then, patch them through, maybe some people are trapped try to contact us." The crew were not prepared for what came through the radio next.

"Pay attention to humans. I am General Arterius of Turian Hierarchy. I want to surrender. My condition is that we are treated fairly. Let me talk about Turian's reinforcements into the system, I will look back." Well it was certainly Terraspeak, but it was like someone ran it through a 21st century language translator back and forth again.

"Get a shuttle ready, I'm going in. Alert the other fleets to hold fire, and get me an squad of our best marines." Admiral Stravinsky made one last request before heading off to board the shuttle. "Tell the alien i'm heading down right away." That was the last phrase he said before leaving the bridge to board the shuttle. "Let these turians know that i'm on my way, don't want to get shot." With that he left the bridge, to go negotiate peace with the turians.

Taking a seat in shuttle along with the squad of ten marines. Heavily armed and armored, they were ready for the worst that humanity has ever faced. Unfortunately the turians weren't something they prepared for. All their armor wouldn't matter because the mass accelerated weapons of the turians would blast straight through. When everyone was strapped in the shuttle dropped from the bay towards the planet surface. Once it hits the upper atmosphere a sheath of plasma forms around it.

The shuttle lands on the police stations helipad. Although helicopters are no longer in use, the name stuck around. The back hatch opens up, allowing them all to leave. The marines exit first, to fire upon any aliens if they end up being hostile. After a couple of seconds they call for the Admiral to come out. Walking out and taking his first look at this alien species the only thing he can think is how, well… alien they looked. Science fiction back on earth usually compared aliens to animals, or were humans but with a palette swap. What were the chances they would find blue alien women like from Star Trek though?

"Which one of you is General Arterius?" Looking out to the group of same looking aliens in front of him. One of them steps forward, his face paint much more intricate than the rest. Sticking out his right hand waiting for a handshake, then remembering that an alien species probably wouldn't understand a human custom. "You grab my hand, and then we shake it. It's a human custom, a formal greeting." The self proclaimed General Arterius reaches out his hand out from behind his armor, to attempt to perform the human custom. Apparently one of the marines was still in the shuttle, being a rookie, and not knowing what was happening due to absence, he went for his weapon after walking out of the shuttle. In less than a moment a turian soldier shot him, he was dead before he hit the ground. After the first man died, the rest of the marines went for their weapons to fire upon the turians. The Admiral hitting the ground, while the General drew his own pistol firing upon the marines as well. It was a one sided bloodbath, the marines weapons unable to defeat the turian kinetic barriers in time. The shooting was done with quick, and the Admiral looked up, to be met by the General's sidearm.

"Stand up, slowly." Doing as instructed he stood up. "Someone take him to a cell, we might be able to use him as leverage to get us time before reinforcements come. Peace is off the table." The General put his gun down, only after two turian soldiers rifles were aimed at him, and escorting him into one of the prisons cells. If he ever got out of here, he would definitely get kicked out of the Navy for such a large blunder. As he walked he could hear the turian soldiers removing the pilot and co-pilot from the shuttle. Admiral Stravinsky could only hope that he would make it out of this alive.

* * *

Priestess Auralia was sitting in her ship, watching the entire surrender attempt through the shuttles flight camera. "Ordinator!" Calling out, not turning around from her screen.

"Yes Priestess, what is it you desire." A short man in robes kneels. His face covered in tattoo markings to designate him as a psychic. His eyes holding a slight blue glow to them.

"We need to retrieve the Admiral, and if possible retrieve the alien General. Get me psyops team." Unlike the psyops of previous centuries, this one was a psychic black ops unit, not a psychological warfare unit. Every member of a team had psychic powers, and they were the best at what they do.

"Priestess, we have Zeta team ready for duty. Should I assign them to the job?"

"That will work just fine." The Ordinator's eyes glow blue, a haze over taking the white of his eye.

"It is done Priestess."

* * *

The entire four man team of Zeta team are doing one last look at their gear before boarding the shuttle. Making sure that they have enough amerexite shards for their mission. The four team members make sure they didn't forget anything. Nt a word was muttered between them, they didn't even know each others names. They didn't need to, they did it all telepathically. The only thing they had to refer to each other by was a codeword, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta. After confirming that they had everything they needed, from det-packs to a days worth of rations. They were prepared for everything. After being sure they had everything they stepped into the small purpose built shuttle, only big enough to hold the four, with a radar cross section that was practically nonexistent, the shuttle dropped towards the planet. A small bubble appears around the craft as it falls, a mute field. Sound outside the field can't get in, sound inside can't get out, this way the craft cannot be heard by ear or seen by radar.

Coming close to the ground, hovering about five feet above it, the team jumps out to the ground. The shuttle begins to take off, it will stay in the air for the next two hours, before heading back to refuel, it would only return then when they call back for it. The second the shuttle gets far enough away, it goes silent, as if it was never there. Flicking off their safety, and loading amerexite shards into the chamber of their guns, they begin to make their way to the police station. Sticking to the shadows to avoid detection from the patrols passing by. Eventually the police station was in sight, it was crawling with turians. With not a word being passed between the group, and the mute fields on their weapons active, they fire their amerexite rifles at the guards on the watchtower. The amerexite shards outermost layer shattering on the shields of the turians. Once the shield and outer shard layers shatter, the inner layers of the shard go into their target and shatter inside.

Walking right up to the guards at the gate of the police station, when they pointed their rifles at them, their eyes just glowed, and the turians lowered their rifles. The turians forgetting they even existed. Any guards who tried to stop them got the same treatment. Walking straight into the lobby of the station, and disabling any turians who get into their way, they split up. Alpha heads to the center pillar of the lobby, placing the det-pack, pulling a pin from it, priming it for detonation, Delta going to the cells to retrieve the Admiral, and Bravo and Charlie heading to grab the turian General. Within five minutes they met back in the lobby, General and Admiral with them. Although the General was unconscious, due in part to psychic powers.

Calling the shuttle down, and dragging the two VIPs onto the shuttle. Once the shuttle is off the ground, Alpha pulls out a detonator, pulling the trigger the det-pack explodes, decimating the entire police station. This would be considered a mission accomplished in their book.

* * *

The turian reinforcements enter the system, with no more than fifty seven ships, that was until they got a message incoming from a ship. Not knowing what to do they accept, what happened next shocked them. General Desolas Arterius chained to a chair with a gun pointed at his head. When he stay silent the gun gets closer to his head. "This is General Desolas Arterius, I advise that the turian forces submit to the coalition of forces from the Alliance Systems." Not knowing what else to do, the turians surrender, not knowing that by doing so they have just changed the course of the Citadel space forever.

* * *

 **AN: The longest chapter I have ever written, if you wish to know what happened in between cuts, or how Zeta team retrieved the general, I am planning on including that later. Please follow and review, your opinions are heard.**


	3. Diplomacy isn't going well

**AN: Here we are with the third chapter of this story, let me know your thoughts. Likes and dislikes, more or less details.**

* * *

"The fifth war between Carrarshie and Vorax draws an end due to United Nations involvement. Making this the shortest conflict between the two systems, lasting only three standard months. In other news, a small skirmish over the planet of Shanxi, which is controlled under Khurstag system jurisdiction, has just ended. It turns out that an alien species was encountered, diplomatic teams from every major system are being sent out to meet with them, more news will come shortly. Now in more important news, is the new artificial sweetener, Sugar-2, really not as bad as we were told it was? Find out after this commercial break." The three men sipping on their beer in the Khurstag bar saw the news on television. Paul, Bill, and Clint being the names of the men.

"Hey you hear that on the news?" Paul asks the other two men, currently taking sips of their beer.

"Yeah Paul, Sugar-2 might actually be ok for human consumption. Well, non-Carrarshie human consumption anyways." The other two men shaking their heads.

"Not that you retard, Paul means the alien species." Clint looking slightly hurt by the bashful remark from Bill, but was soon washed away.

"Oh that. Do you think they'll be like generic sci fi aliens?" Clint asked the two.

"What, you mean humans with green skin?" The three drunk men break out into laughter, there was no way sci fi was right.

"Or, maybe they will be a bug race. Zerg rush!" Breaking out into laughter again at the thought.

"Guys please, we all know, that they will either follow one of the archetypes. The military aliens who are all honor bound, or the science aliens who don't know what love is, or maybe even the artsy fartsy peaceful kind." Laughing again at the thought of Paul's comment.

"And let me guess, us humans are the perfect mix of each of these and advanced faster than any other species?" The three men jokingly laugh. All of them coming up with more ridiculous sci fi tropes to laugh at. "Oh, I got another one." The other two men turn to Clint awaiting his comment. "All of their tech comes from a precursor race that died out, and they aren't trying to gear up for whatever did it." The three men all laughed.

"Maybe it was a virus, or maybe what ever killed them won't come back?" Bill reasoned. "Nothing can be that stupid to ignore those facts."

"I don't know about you, but when has what killed the precursor ever not come back?"

* * *

General Desolas has been returned to the Turians, and a diplomatic meeting has been scheduled between the Systems Alliance, and the Council races. Just great, the diplomat from Khurstag has been going over the information in his head on repeat. He is to be dressed formally, and he is to be deployed to the Citadel by small shuttle. Looking out the window the massive hulk of a space station, thinking about just how this would go over.

Looking at himself in the mirror, wearing a nicely fitted three piece suit, with his tie done just right. Grabbing a small amount of pomade and parting his hair, and slicking it back. Looking back in the mirror just to make sure it all stayed in place. On his way out of his quarters, he grabbed a small handgun, all parts made of plastic and ceramics. A gauss weapon would be harder to conceal due to needing metal bullets, unlike the ceramic ones he had. Walking out of his quarters into the hall, he headed to the shuttle bay.

Upon his arrival his personal bodyguard was waiting for him. "How do I look Patricia?" Asking her, just to be sure he wasn't forgetting something.

"You look like you just walked out of a room of businessmen from the 1950s, just like always Jack." Smiling at her, he walked towards the shuttle.

"Thanks Patricia." Her only response was a grunt.

She handed him an earpiece, and his briefcase. "The earpiece is for translation, and the briefcase has everything you requested." Jack only nodded, focused on putting the piece in his ear. As if anticipating his question, which she did, knowing everything he would do after working with him for three years. "We take off in five minutes, land at the station in eight, and begin the meeting in an hour." Nodding, Jack buckled himself into the shuttle, awaiting transit to the Citadel. Delegates from every system were present. Now all he could do was wait.

* * *

C-Sec customs had emptied out one of the docks specifically for the humans to use. In order to make sure everything went as smooth as possible the dock was as close to the Presidium as possible. It started out as a formality but after hearing how many ambassadors the humans had coming it became a necessity. It turned out multiple ambassadors were being sent to represent the same race, a perplexity for the Citadel races. Even more so that they were a fairly new space faring race, their population shouldn't be high enough to warrant this kind of diplomatic team. Multiple C-Sec teams were waiting to escort each of the diplomats to the Council.

It wasn't long until the first of the shuttles launched that one of them docked in the bay. It was a large shuttle, very angular, and looking heavily armored. A foot thick metal door opened on the craft. The sound of its own internal pressure equalizing with that of the bay was all that could be heard. A heavy thud of a heavy metal foot fall is reverberated throughout the room as a nine foot tall figure stepped out, with a massive olive green and golden trimmed armored suit. To the C-Sec officers this was probably one of the scariest moments of their entire career. The guns of the terrified C-Sec troopers raised as the figure slowly walked towards them, with another four figures, not as tall as the first mind you, but still as tall as a krogan. Sounds are heard as the helmet on the tallest is twisted to the left and then removed, the air pressure equalizing again. A bald, gaunt face is revealed. The complexion looking unlike any other member of the species seen before, looking unnaturally pale, as though sunlight exposure was something unheard of. The figure spoke through a mask covering its nose and mouth with a deep voice. "I am Supreme Patriarch Rhombus of Vorax." The C-Sec agents still did not relax, how could they, there was still a figure towering over them. "I am here acting as representative for the human system of Vorax in diplomatic relations." The tension dying slowly, but eventually when it became pretty obvious they weren't all going to be pulled limb from limb the C-Sec agents relaxed.

"Orders are that all diplomats are to wait here until all members of the diplomatic team representing humanity is ready." The C-Sec commander, a turian female, informed the Patriarch and his entourage. "Your security team are not permitted to enter the Citadel Tower." The commander pointed to the four armored men beside him, their huge guns pointed towards the ground.

Another shuttle lands in the bay, this one less armored, but almost as angular. Out stepped a man with a three piece suit and a woman with her own suit. "Jack Bremer, representing Khurstag." Pointing towards the woman standing with him, "This is Patricia my scribe." The woman gives a small hand wave towards the C-Sec team.

"Wait here for all the other diplomats, and we also need bigger aircar, based on the size of him." The C-Sec commander points towards the Patriarch. Officially making this one of the worst moments of her career, why did she have to be in charge of diplomats from such a strange species.

Before anything else can be said a shuttle silently moves into the hangar, making an unusually low amount of noise. Walking out came three people, if you could even say that. A robed cross between a man and machine, a bald woman covered in blue tattoos, a man dressed in thick cloth and with golden jewelry all over. "We are the diplomats from the three major Houses of Alpha Centauri. The ambassadors from the two largest minor Houses are now permitted to present themselves." Once the words spoken by the cyborg were done two more people walked from the shuttle. One of them a bald man in a robe, and the other wearing a purple suit, its material unable to be determined from a glance.

"The two ambassadors from the largest minor houses of Alpha Centauri are present." The C-Sec team slightly unnerved by the display, unsure of how to react. Even though it was a bit strange, the C-Sec commander repeated her message, and not soon after another shuttle landed.

Out stepped a man in a similar suit to that of the Khurstag ambassador, but he looked older. " I am Ambassador Dewitt from the United Nations of Earth." Only the humans could hear the accent of his voice, not picking up on the translators that the humans made. The captain of C-Sec could only repeat what she told all the other diplomats. To her this was a diplomatic team was good enough, but apparently there was one more shuttle that needed to come in first.

A cheap civilian production model shuttle comes into the bay, obvious to all the humans who it was. The shuttle door opens to the hiss of the air equalizing between the two. Out stepping a tall slender man with dark skin and a type of basic purple cloth covering, flanked by two, things. Standing at a solid ten feet, and a massive bulk made primarily out if muscle, tall and covered in scales and thick carapaced plates. The most striking detail would have to be its lack of eyes, and how its constantly sticking out its forked tongue and the clicking noise coming from it. "I'm sorry for the lateness, it took sometime to neurally map the languages you gave us to my brain. I still may have some troubles with pronouncing words, but I know what all of them mean and sound like." The translators on the C-Sec team didn't even turn on, confirming the mans words to be true.

"Mutant." The Patriarch of Vorax mutters under his breath, but the Carrarshian either didn't hear or care.

"Get the heavy security teams ready, I don't like the look of this." The commander tells into her radio.

* * *

The diplomatic party was stopped at a security checkpoint. "Weapons check, only people here to meet the council are allowed past." This was the point where the diplomats were separated from their security, except the man from the UN, he didn't have any to begin with. "You there, get out of the suit." One of the checkpoint officers was pointing towards the Patriarch.

"I cannot get out of the suit." At this the guards clenched their weapons tighter, getting ready incase something went down.

"You cannot expect us to allow you into the council chambers with a giant, armored, suit." Seeing trouble about to break out Jack from Khurstag walked up towards the guard to try to break the tension.

"Sir, pardon me for a second, but he physically can't get out of his suit." The guard only looked at Jack as if pondering for a moment.

"He should have known it would need to come off, he should have brought the," Jack cuts him off.

"No, you misunderstand, he is bolted to the suit, as in through his body." The guard looks at him for a minute before giving what he could only assume to be a face of confusion on the turian. "When every Voraxian male reaches maturity and stops growing, their limbs are hacked off, and they are bolted into the suit. They then use artificial nerve the make the suit the new body."

"That's abominable! Why would any species do that!" The guard with a look of disgust and disbelief on his face.

"Because Vorax Prime is a dead world, no oxygen and many deadly storms on the surface. The suits are for surface dwelling, and it doesn't pay to take them off, so why not just get rid of the useless bits." Still with a disgruntled look, the guard lets him pass.

"Put that gun down first." The Patriarch agrees and puts down his gun. Obviously walking through without a pat down or trip through the metal detector, due to the metal suit. The ambassadors from Alpha Centauri get through with strange looks from the guards,and are only stopped for the Cognitionis representative. The man from Carrarshie gets through security without having to remove anything, having no metal on his person. Even Ambassador Dewitt has few problems, but when it comes to Jack and Patricia a problem occurs. "She can't come in with you."

"I need her, she is my scribe, she'll make a transcript of what happens for documentation." Jack says with a straight face, not letting through that he has a firearm on his person.

"She needs to be checked too." Jack going through security went well, the metal detector didn't even pick up his gun, it made sense, not being metal. She placed down her case, to be checked by the guards. When they click open the clamp to the case and open it, revealing it to be a laptop. "This for your scribe?" Jack nods, not feeling to bothered to speak. They don't really dig further into it, letting her pass, and thus getting everyone who needed to be there ready to enter the council chambers.

* * *

"Now that everyone is seated, it is time to set the topic of our current discussion. Why are there so many of you here?" The turian councilor asked to the variety of humans seated at the long table in front of him. His finger tapping on the table in a rhythmic tempo. Next to him being the Turian Hierarchy representative in this agreement.

"That can be answered very easily. The Systems Alliance is an alliance made up of the five most major human solar systems. The Alliance does not completely govern everything, and is more of a pact. Y'know, trade laws, intersystems police agencies, defense pacts if our species is threatened. But the Alliance the human government, just a pact of them." Mr. Dewitt explains to the council, still having some more questions for humanity before any talks of the war can be brought up.

"Due to having multiple systems I'm assuming you've been space fairing for awhile." The asari councilor now asks.

"No actually, we have only started colonizing another planet about eighty years ago, this also means a large percentage of our population in fairly young too." The councilors kept a straight face, not showing really any emotion. Their reactions to the answers being given were unable to be gauged.

"For such a young species, how many humans are there?" After flipping through some papers jack was the first to speak.

"We have approximately one hundred and forty billion of us throughout the entire Alliance. Can't really speak for humans living outside of Alliance space, like on new colonies." The clicking of the keys on a laptop are present as Jack's bodyguard types a transcribe on the laptop. Still no facial features are present on the councilors.

"We have reports that no element zero was detected on your ships, why is that?" The salarian councilor asks the humans.

"This element zero was only discovered thirty years ago." The salarian had a ponderous expression, debating whether or not he should ask. Eventually he caves in and does.

"So how did you manage to spread so far without it for fifty years?"

"Simple, the Cherenkov drive. I am not obliged to share the mechanics behind it, for that is the exclusive right of its patent holders. Recently we developed warp drives with this element zero allowing us to make a bubble in space to break the speed of light, but they cost much more to produce." The Representative from house Cognitionis from Alpha Centauri spoke up, his mechanical voice box producing a monotone voice.

"Right then, we shall begin to ask about the peace deal to be brokered between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy." The turian Councilor's face not reacting to the announcement.

"The people of Khurstag request a formal apology and ten million credits. Instead of ten million credits a trade agreement would work. We are referring to your credits, doing a conversion beforehand."

"The Turian Hierarchy will give a formal apology and pay out the credits to the System of Khurstag." The representative seems dead inside, like this was the low point of his career. It probably in fact was.

"The people of Vorax demand a formal declaration of submission to Vorax." The turian looked irritated.

"We will give you a formal apology, but we will never submit." The Patriarch wasn't to pleased with this, the man from Alpha Centauri House Divus, the man covered in bells and bronze chains, spoke.

"We are fine with the formal apology." The man claimed, his voice declaring that he was the final one to speak.

"Well, we are assuming you are going to want to join the Citadel as a species, it offers many benef-." The asari councilor was cut off from speaking by Mr. Dewitt.

"Many of us here are unable to make that choice, merely being representatives of our systems. If you could, may we get the terms of joining to take back and convene with our respective systems. Maybe some systems may join if you're lucky." The asari looked quite perplexed.

"Some systems? The Alliance as a whole should be the ones joining, we are not going to deal with a fractured species." The words rung out to all the humans. They all knew it would never happen, one system can't decide for all of them.

"If you send us conditions of this agreement we can see what we can do." The United Nations Mr. Dewitt spoke. Terms were quickly copied and given to each delegate, their reactions weren't pleasant. The banning of WMDs, dreadnought limit, genetic engineering ban, AI bans.

"This is an outrage! You cannot expect the people of Vorax to agree with this! No WMDs, no orbital bombardment of a so called garden world, a dreadnought limit! If we obliged by that we would only be allowed six, we would need to destroy thirty seven of our current ships!" That shocked the council races, if they needed to destroy that many, they would already outnumber the turians in dreadnought count.

"How can a race so young have so many dreadnoughts?" The turians unable to comprehend it.

"Vorax has a population of 1.2 billion people, all of them are military members. The women are constantly pregnant and raising children, and the men are growing food, making infrastructure, working in factories, and going to war. They need all the dreadnoughts to support the massive six hundred million fighting males they have. They may live on a dead world, but that doesn't mean it has no resources, in fact that why it was settled. It was a mining planet, hence the suits, even their guns are just modified rivet guns." Everyone was beginning to wonder if Mr. Dewitt had any emotions at all, not seeming to change tone at all whenever he spoke. It was as if he was an endless info dump.

"We disagree with this genetic engineering policy." The Carrarshian man spoke finally. "Our entire people were genetically engineered, otherwise we would have died out."

"We highly doubt that, what reason do you have to justify going against evolution?" The salarian asked.

"The planet of Carrarshie II has a dextro based amino acid structure. We made it so we could eat levo, and dextro foods, dextro for the planet, levo for travelling away. Eventually we just engineered purpose build creatures, perfect for their designated role."

"This AI ban will not please the founder." The Cognitionis man spoke, at this point the council couldn't take it anymore, the people here couldn't even make decisions, and if they could the Alliance wouldn't come together. Here was the hopes of getting them into the Citadel in the next decade to avoid more war, and the fact they are running unchecked makes them even worse. This will raise tensions and cause the civilians to get scared. All that the Asari councilor could think was, "Fuck."

* * *

 **AN: I went to my doctor the other day, he asked if I was on drugs. I told him yes, when he asked which one, I told him fanfiction reviews. Please R &R, I would like to know your thoughts, where do you think it's going, where would you like it to go. I mean I won't implement it, but hey. Also let me know if I missed any detail, thank you all and see you next time.**


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